Milling flour.



A E. HUMPHRIES.

MILLING FLOUR.

APPLICATION FILED 001 .12, 1909.

Patented Feb. 7, 1911.

a E N W Antenna rnwannnunrnmns, or wnynnrnen, ENGLAND.

MILIING rinoun.

Specification of Letters hatent.

Application filedOctober 12, 1909." Serial No. 522,353.

. tion.

This invention which originally formed a part of my application for Letters Pat ent SeriaLXo. 500918, dated 8th June 1909, relates to an improvement in the process of producing flour by milling wheat, having for its object to improve certain qualities of theflour and 'to avoid certain difficulties in the'milling operations.

It is known that flour can be improved in respect ofgits fbaking properties by si1b-.

jectiiig it to the actionof air carrying water Yapor or moisture).

Accor to my'invention a'greater improminent-1s obtained, and that more easily; by. subjecting the stocl: (which connotes partly milled imahy ofthednterniediatc stages of the flour sequent to the first break) tot-he action of a. very finely .sprayfof-water. By'. operating in this manner the water-becomes very intimatelymixed withthe flour during,

the operations and the' color of the-flouris improved. This last resultfis -dueto the better separation of fl our can be attained when the' milling operations are applied the: slightly damp stock. Another, most unexpected :advantage accrues from the of the stock, namely that the sweatmg-of the rollsand the pasting up of the silks is considerably diminished. To ex plain this effect more fully, it'may be said that owing to the friction caused by the grinding action of the rolls von the rain or partly ground grain, much heat is (leveloped and much of the moisture in the stock becomes \ap'or which condenses again inside the frames of-the roller mills and in the sifting or separating machines causing a sticky and evil smelling accumulation ofwet matter in the interiors of the machines and destroying or. diminishing the separating capacity of the silk covers (that .is, gages) used for the sifting processes by pasting their surfaces. Xow as a result of the pasting up milling process sub slight softening of the stock due to spraying in accord with my invention and the consequent diminution of friction in grinding, the sweating in the roller mills and the of the silks covers is considerably diminished.

The mode of operation consists in agitating the stock'in any well known form of reel or the like between any two breaks or reductions of the milling operation, while spraying it with water by means of a nozzle affording a very finely divided spray.

As an example of the proportion of water which may be added, I have found that when a stock containing from 14: to 15 per.

.cent. of water is subjected in the manner aforesaid to a spray of water, between 1 and 2 per cent. on the weight of the finished flour may be added without harnr to the flour and in many cases with good efiect on the baking Value of the Hour. Inother cases, however, as is already known, such an addition doosnot afiect the baking value; experiment-on asample ofthe stockwhich it is proposed to treatlcan alone decide.

this improvement can be realized.

the accompanying drawing, which sh ws diagrammatically a longitudinal sec tion through a reel adapted for carrying out the prooess according to this invention, and

two roller mills one feeding the spraying reel with partly milled stock and the other receiving sprayed stock or fiour from the reel, the reel is shown out, of scale in relation to the roller mills in order -'a is the reel' rotated on its axle throu h a belt I); the stock or flour is fed from the mills m into the hopper c and is passed into the reel by worm d rotated on its axis through the belt e. The reel contains lifters or heaters j which carry forward the flour to the discharge chuteg and at the same time toss it so that itforms a fine spray in the reel. The shaft of the worm d is hollow for passage of a pipe terminating in anozzle 72, through which air andwater to more clearly show some details.

Patented Feb. 7,1911.

are fed under pressure, the air being introofthe reel. Thus at each end water in a. highly atomized state is introduced into the reel by,means of the said nozzles. The chute g communicates with the feed hopper on the second roller'mill n.

Having thus described my invention and the best means I know of carrying the same 5 into practical efiect, I claim The process of producing flour by the milling of wheat, which consists in passing the stock through a set of rolls, then subjecting the stock coming from these rolls to a spray of water, and then passing the stock .while still moist through another set of rolls.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribin witnesses.

ERT E. HUMPHIRIES.

Witnesses:

' WALTER J. Sxnrmm,

T. J. 05m. 

